Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 08.127 February 9, 1999 1) farfast (Franklin Gracer, Sam Primack, Ruth Rischall, Itsik Shteyn) 2) farfast (shmuel batt) 3) farfast (Joachim Neugroschel) 4) farfast (Simkhe Drayer) 5) farfast (Sholem Yafe) 6) farfast (Mordkhe Schaechter) 7) Di Tannaim hobn "farfast" di Mishna (Ruth Levine) 8) farfast (gershon winer) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 11:24:40 -0500 (EST) From: "Franklin Gracer" Subject: farfast The word "farfast" comes from the German "verfassen" meaning "to compose". Franklin Gracer [Similar replies were sent by Sam Primack, Ruth Rischall, and Itsik Shteyn] 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 12:51:55 -0500 (EST) From: samuel batt Subject: farfast A. Walters fregt (Vol.08.125) vos s'meynt dos vort "farfast". es iz amol genutzt gevorn tsu batzeykhenen dem "farfaser"s arbet ( gemeynt dem mekhabers, dem shraybers verk. inem modernem Yiddish iz "farfast" genutzt tzu batzeykhenen di fa-yom kipur seude. onshtot "farfast" in batzug tzu a shrayber nutzt men dos vort "geshribn", "ongeshribn" oder "m/khaber geven". ven dos vort "fafast" treft zikh dokh in batzeykhnen etvos vos iz shayekh a shrayber darf men es farshteyn vi "geshafn baym m/khaber". dos iz mayn meynung vi a m/khaber/ shmuel batt 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 13:22:12 -0500 (EST) From: ACHIM1 Subject: farfast the Yiddish word "farfast" is the past participle of "farfasn" from modern German "verfassen" (to write, to indite, to author). Though Yiddish purists may deplore this modern borrowing, it nevertheless has to be dealt with by readers. Both the Yiddish and the German verb mean "to write, to author," etc.' but the German verb also means "to compose music, to set words to music"--a sense that I've never found in Yiddish--but who knows? (Incidentally, in the nineteenth century, German "verfassen" also meant "to edit, to compile texts"--a meaning that is now totally archaic.") There is also a major distinction between the German noun "Verfasser" and the Yiddish noun "farfaser": in German you have to be a "Verfasser" of something stated or implied--you can't just be a mere "Verfasser" (by trade, etc.). By contrast, the Yiddish noun "farfaser" can stand by itself--as a practitioner of the profession of writing: "er iz a farfaser"--"he's a writer, an author...." In fact, there's a story by Yankev Gordin titled "Berl der Farfaser farn Bezdn-shel-mayle"--"Berl the Writer before the Celestial Court." Such a usage of "Verfasser" would be ungrammatical in German (which would actually employ "Autor" or "Schriftsteller" in that context.) The added Yiddish meaning also confirms that every borrowing, no matter how repugnant to purists, has to be examined in terms of both style and usage. Joachim Neugroschel 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 18:59:00 -0500 (EST) From: "Saul Drajer" Subject: farfast An entfer zu Avremele Walter: Farfasn is shraybn. Ir hot a toes. In dem zaytl 471 fun Uriel Weireich's vertebukh hot ir nit gut geleyent. Dos vort vos shteyt gedrukt is FARFASTN, un nit FARFASN. Farfastn is take esn farn fastn. Ober in di kumendike shure leyentmen FARFASER: ZEN MEKHABER. Dos is dos rikhtike shlisl tzu ayer frage! An answer to Avremele Walter: Farfasn means to write. You have not read correctly what is in the page 471 form Uriel Weinreich=B4s dictionary. There is no FARFASN but FARFASTN, which really means the last meal before fasting. But on the coming line there is FARFASER: SEE MEKHABER (writer), and that's the key of your question! Mit derekh-erets (with respect) Simkhe Drayer. 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 21:07:16 EST From: LakeJaffe@aol.com Subject: farfast Re farfast, in response to Avreml Walter's question: In German, verfasser = author. (Pronounced ferfasser). In Yiddish, farfaser, for author, is labeled "inadmissible in the standard language" by Weinreich. The word he approves of is mekhaber. Sol Jaffe (Sholem Yafe) 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1999 06:34:12 -0500 (EST) From: MSchaecht@aol.com Subject: farfast Liber Avreml Walters, "farfast" iz a daytshmerizm (a superfluos German word in Yiddish). Dos rekhtike yidishe vort iz: mekhaber geven, tsunoyfgeshtelt (af English: authored, compiled). Ayer Mordkhe Schaechter 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1999 11:34:59 -0500 (EST) From: RMGL@aol.com Subject: Di Tannaim hobn "farfast" di Mishna Re: Avreml Walters recent query: It sounds like "farfast" means "compiled" in this context. I was recently reading about the Tannaim and they did, indeed, compile the rules of conduct that are the Mishna. Weinreich lists "farfasser" as "mekhaber" which means "author," and "mekhaber zayn" as "to author" or "compile." Ruth Levine 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1999 01:30:41 -0500 (EST) From: Nechama & Gershon Winer Subject: farfast In response to Andrew Walters' inquiry about the term FARFAST, -- it's a legitimate Yiddish word in frequent usage, meaning "authored" or "composed". Generally it appears more often as a noun -- FARFASER. The fact that Weinreich does not include it, does not detract from the place of the term in the Yiddish language. Dovid Katz in his authoritative volume on Yiddish stylistics, lists about 500 kosher Yiddish words which have been proscribed by Weinrich. The term is found in what is still regarded as the best dictionary -- the 1925 edition of Alexander Harkavy's Yiddish-English Hebrew Dictionary which was republished by YIVO a few years ago. By the way, there is a typographical error in the word as it appears in Harkavy, with a second alef letter instead of a resh. It is also included in the English-Yiddish Encyclopedic Dictionary of Paul Abelson published in 1915 (1748 pages!) gershon winer ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 08.127 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele http://metalab.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html